Hammer-action nail puller and wrecking bar



Nov. 11, 1924. 1,515,142

, J. BUTLER HAMMER ACTION NAIL FULLER AND WRECKING BAR Filed April 21 1923 In VE/V Toff.

JOHN 50 7151?.

Patented Nov. 11, 1924.

warren s FF ICE.

JOHN BUTLER, OF ECHO, MINNESOTA, ASSIGNOB C'F ONE-HALF TO AUGUST J. HINZ,

' OF WOOD LAKE, MINNESOTA.

HAMMER-ACTION NAIL FULLER AND VJRECKING Application filed April 21, 1923. Serial No. 633,739.

T all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I JOHN BUTLER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Echo, in the county of Yellow Medicine and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hammer-Ac tion Nail Pullers and Vrecking Bars; and

I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to a nail pulling bar or a wrecking bar. Such bars are now commonly used for tearing apart boxes and similar structures and for withdrawing the nails from such boxes or other structure af' ter said nails have been driven flush with the surfaces thereof.

It is an object of this invention to pro vide such a bar having a pair of claws, which can be readily sunk into the surfaces containing the nail. said bar being bent so that the same can then be rocked to lift the nail.

It is a further object of the invention to provide such a bar, having a handle portion bent upwardly from one side of the said claws and having the portion at the other side of said claws bent upwardly a short distance and formed as a hammer head, which head can be struck a blow to sink the claws into the surface containing the nail.

It is still another object of the invention to provide such a bar having the claws thereon formed adjacent the apertures extendin through the bar and also to provide a bar aving a plurality of such apertures and pairs of claws thereon.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will be fully set forth in the following description made in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters refer to the same parts throughout the different views, and in which V Fig. 1 shows a bar in side elevation partly in section together with an object containing a nail;

Fig. 2 is a view of the bar in side elevation in a different position, also showing a part of an object containing a nail;

Fig. 3 is a partial plan view of the bar; and

Fig, a is a vertical section thereof taken on line l' l of Fig. 1 and shown on an enlarged scale.

Referring to the drawings, the device comprises a bar of cylindrical or other suitable shape having the major portion 1 thereof forming a handle portion and extending upwardly the upper end 2 of said bar being flattened to form a chisel or crow bar. The intermediate portion 3 of the bar is substantially rectangular in cross section and will be referred to as the horizontal portion. The other end 1 of the bar is of cylindrical or other regular hape and is bent upwardly to form substantially the same angle with the horizontal'portion 3, as does the handle portion 1. An aperture or slot 5 extends vertically through the bar adjacent the bend of the portion 4 and on the handle side of said bend and another aperture or slot 6 ex tends vertically through the bar adjacent the bend formed by the handle portion 1 and at i the handle side of said bend. The slots 6 and 6 emerge at their upper end to form one common opening, as shown in Fig. 3, but are separated at their lower portions by the por tion or web 7 extending between the same. A pair of claws 8 are disposed at the rear of the aperture 5 and diverge to forma pointed triangular slit 9 communicating with said aperture and another pair of claws 10 extend from the rear portion of the aperture 6 and diverge to form a triangular slit 11 communicating with said last mentioned said aperture. The claws 8 and 10 project below the bottom surface of the horizontal portion 3 of the bar and are'formed with longitudinal edges 12 and beveled to form points as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the front surfaces of the claws or the surfaces toward the handle portion of the bar being concave and extending rearwardly of the pointed ends thereof. The claws 10 are formed with a somewhat larger opening therebetween than the claws 8, so that a larger nail can be em braced in said opening. v

In operation the claws 8 and 10 are used for drawing headed nails or tacks and if the nails project above the surface in which they are driven, the bar can merely be moved along said surface resting on the claws. The nail will then move through the slots 5 or 6 and the head thereof will be caught above the claws and the shank of the nail be disposed between the same. The bar can now be rocked toward the rear by raising the lit fit)

handle portion 1 and the nail withdrawn whether the nail is embraced by the claws S or by the claws 10. If the nail is driven into the surface so that the head is flush with the surface or beneath the same, the bar is disposed with the claws adjacent the nail as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The handle portion of the bar is lield with one hand and the hammer portion l. given a blow by means of a hammer or other implei'nent. The pointed claws will then sink into the surface and pass beneath the head of the nail, after which the bar can be rocked rcarwardly and the nail withdrawn. As stated, the smaller and shorter nails can be pulled by the claws 8, while the larger and longer nails can be pulled by the claws 10. It will be noted that the bar can be rocked to raise the claws 10 a much greater distance from the surface than the claws 8. If the nails are spaced the right distance both of the pairs of claws may simultaneously be used. The portion 2 of the bar. will be useful in prying" objects apart and in getting under boards or other objects to lift the same.

In the above description it is seen that applicant has provided a simple, efiicient and rugged wrecking bar. The bar can easily be made from standard stock and thus be inexpensively produced. The device has been successfully demonstrated in actual use and found to have great utility for the purpose intended.

It will, of course, be understood that various changes may be made in the form, details, arrangement and proportion of the parts without departing from the scope of applicants invention, which generally stated, consists in such an article as shown and described and set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is 1. A bar having one end formed as a hammer head and being bent upward a short distance from said end, said bar having its other end bent upward a short distance from said first mentioned bend to. form a handle portion, and a pair of downwardly extending nail-engaging claws formed below each bend in the bar.

2. Thestructure set forth in claim 1, the nail-receiving ends of said claws extending! toward the handle portion of the bar. said hammer portion being adapted to be, :lri h a blow to drive said claws into a surface to engage a nail lying flush with or below the said surface v I A, nail-pulling and wrecking device comprising a bar having an aperture eX- tending vertically therethrough, diverging claws at one end of said aperture forming triangular pointed slit, said claws projecting from the lowersurfaces of said bar. whereby they can be driven into a surface toengage under a nail head flush with said surface, said bar terminating a short distance beyond the converging end of said claws and being bent upwardly and formed as a hammer head, the other end of said bar being bent upwardly adjacent'said aperture to form a handle portion. said hammer head being adapted to be struck a blow to drive said claws into said surface to engage under a nail head lying flush with or below said surface.

l. A bar having one end formed as a haminer head and being bent upward a short distance from said end, said bar having, its other end bent upward a short distance from said first mentioned bend to form a handle portion, apertures extending rertieally through said bar adjacent said bends and at the sides thereof toward the handle portion and a pair of diverging pointed claws adjacent that end of each aperture which is disposed toward said hammer head.

5. The structure set forth in claim l, said claws projecting below the bottom surface of said ban whereby they can be drawn into engagement with the nail head projecting from the surface while resting on said surface. 1

6. A nail pulling devicecomprising a bar having a substantially horizontal portion, the handle portion be-nt'upwardly from said horizontal portion. an aperture through the lower part of said handle portion, a pair of diverging claws projecting downwardly from the bottom surface of said bar adjzh cent the end of said aperture disposed. away from said. handle portion and forming a pointed slit communicating with the said aperture. said claws having points projecting toward the handle end of said bar. the other end of said bar beyond said claws being bent upwardly whereby a nail head projecting from a surface can be moved into said aperture to be engaged by said claws while the same rest on said surface. I

7. A nail pulling and wrecking device comprising a bar having" an intermediate horizontal portion substantially rectangular in cross section, a comparatively short upwardly extending portion at one end thereof formedas a hammer head and a handle portion at the other end of said intermediate portion extending; upwardly therefrom and terminating in a flattened edge. said bar havinga pair of apertures extending verti cally therethrough acent the bends in the bar and at the handle portion side a pair of claws disposed adjacent each aperture and at the end thereof disposed towardthe hammer head end of said bar. said claws [JIOJQCtlDg below the bottom sru'face of the intermediate portion of the bar, di-

verging and formed with points projectingtoward the handle end of said bar.

In testimony whereof I aliix my Slli'lltl-lllllth JOHN BUTLER.

thereof.

loo 

